1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a card-type apparatus, such as a CF card, on which a memory card, such as a subscriber identity module (SIM) card, can be attached. Compact Flash (CF) is a trademark registered at the Japanese Patent Office.
2. Background Art
FIG. 7a is a schematic perspective view of an example of a card-type apparatus. FIG. 7b is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along line A-A in FIG. 7a. A card-type apparatus 1 is, for example, a PC card or a CF card and includes a circuit substrate 2 and a card-type case 3 accommodating the circuit substrate 2. The card-type apparatus 1 is capable of detachably storing a memory card 5, such as a SIM card, by inserting the memory card 5 into the card-type case 3 through a memory card slot 4 formed at one end of a side surface of the card-type case 3, as shown by a dotted line in FIG. 7a. 
More specifically, according to the configuration of the card-type apparatus 1, the card-type case 3 includes a flat portion 6 disposed opposite to the front surface of the circuit substrate 2 stored in the card-type case 3 with a gap between the flat portion 6 and the front substrate surface. Part of the gap between the flat portion 6 and the circuit substrate 2 is a memory card accommodating space 8 provided for accommodating the memory card 5. Terminals 12 are provided in the memory card accommodating space 8 on the front surface of the circuit substrate 2, as shown in the schematic cross-sectional view in FIG. 7c, so that when the memory card 5 is stored in the memory card accommodating space 8, the terminals 12 oppose the memory card 5. On the surface of the memory card 5 (the back side of the memory card 5 in FIG. 7a), electrodes 10 for electrically connecting the circuit embedded in the memory card 5 to the outside are provided. The terminals 12 are arranged so that the terminals 12 correspond to the electrodes 10. When the memory card 5 is stored inside the memory card accommodating space 8, the terminals 12 contact and connect with the electrodes 10 of the memory card 5 so as to electrically connect the circuits in the memory card 5 with circuits in the circuit substrate 2. In the example illustrated in FIGS. 7b and 7c, the terminals 12 are disposed on a connector unit 13 on the circuit substrate 2.
Examples of card-type apparatuses are shown in the following documents:
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-298092
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 9-17493
[Patent Document 3] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-172659
The thickness D of the card-type case 3, for example, conforms to a standard. For this reason, considering the thickness of the circuit substrate 2, the height of components of the circuitry mounted on the circuit substrate 2 (especially the height of tall components), and the thickness of the flat portion 6 of the card-type case 3, the gap H between the substrate surface of the circuit substrate 2 and the flat portion 6 of the card-type case 3 is inevitably determined. The thickness d of the memory card 5, for example, also conforms to a standard.
According to the example illustrated in FIG. 7b, the terminals 12 are disposed on the upper surface of the connector unit 13. In some cases, the gap between the terminals 12 and the flat portion 6 may be wider than the thickness d of the memory card 5. In such a case, if the memory card 5 is inserted and stored in the memory card accommodating space 8 between the circuit substrate 2 and the flat portion 6, the memory card 5 may be too loose inside the memory card accommodating space 8. In such a case, the electrodes 10 of the memory card 5 cannot stably contact and connect with the terminals 12 of the circuit substrate 2. As a result, the electrical connection between the circuit of the memory card 5 and the circuits of the circuit substrate 2 becomes unstable.
Accordingly, to prevent such a problem, various configurations for providing stable electrical contact between the electrodes 10 of the memory card 5 and the terminals 12 on the side of the circuit substrate 2 have been proposed. However, the proposed configurations have had problems, such as a large number of components and/or complicated structures, or a circuit configuration area is reduced due to an increase in the area in the card-type case 3, used for the proposed configuration or a high production cost causing a difficulty in reducing the cost for the card-type apparatus 1. None of the configurations have been satisfactory.